Barry Jordan
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Posts posted by Barry Jordan
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Does anyone know which German builder is doing this? A bit of research indicates this, probably: https://www.hwk-ff.de/blog/handwerker/23660-sander-harry/ . Can't say I've heard of them.
B
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Many many years ago I wrote an article about the history of the organs in the cathedral of Magdeburg, which I've been privileged to serve for just about 15 years now. Life sentence. Anyway, I have totally rewritten it, corrected some errors which resulted from too great a reliance on one particular source, and included quite a lot of new information which should have been staring me in the face but got overlooked. Any interest, here it is: http://www.magdeburgerdommusik.de/html/history.html
All best
Barry -
Yes, but Ladach just sells them on, they don't reinstall them.
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I recently added a video of the 113-stop Sauer organ in Berlin cathedral here https://youtu.be/8yybfR8xjyE
I will try to upload videos of the other 2 pieces on the programme (William Harris Sonata in a minor, Rheinberger 8th sonata) sometime soon.
Fantastic instrument!
Happy New Year to all
Barry -
No-one has mentoned the crescendo at the beginning of the Reubke Sonata on the 94th Psalm, where there is a crescendo while both feet are occupied.
Going back year and years, I vaguely recall the late Stephen Bicknell mentioning a device on certain German instruments, where a hitch down pedal kept the swell box shut, but a weight closed the box when the hitch down pedal was moved. I seem to recall that the speed of the opening was controlled by a knob, which presumably controlled some sort of friction clutch.
Don't quote me, but it sound plausible.
MM
Well, Merseburg cathedral does have a draw-stop which opens the swell (labelled "crescendo"). On the other hand, it induces a crescendo from pianissimo to perhaps mezzo-piano at best, as there is really nothing much in the box, so that I do believe that a good part of that famous crescendo was achieved by the (four) registrants who went about their duties there. Ladegast built a pneumatic crescendo - which added the stops of the organ at a fixed speed at the touch of a pedal (Schwerin, Vienna Musikverein) or a button in the key-cheek (Tallin - then "Reval") - for the first time in Schwerin in 1871, but as Reubke died in 1858 this is not particularly relevant.
For those who read German the following description might be interesting:
Weit bequemer und ohne die schon oft sehr beschäftigten Füße dazu nöthig zu haben, läßt sich das Crescendo und Decrescendo so bewirken:
k) Niederdrücken der Tritte 1-7 und Ankoppeln der Manuale durch Schieber 2 und 7. [= Öffnen aller Sperrventile, Koppeln III/I und II/I]
l) Anziehen der Stimmen 33 und 47 [= III. Man. Flauto dolce 8', Pedal Gedackt 16']
m) Spielen im ersten Manual. Durch einen Fingerdruck auf Schieber 5 wird sofort das Crescendo beginnen und ein Druck auf 6 dasselbe hemmen.
n) Mit einem Druck auf 4 beginnt das Decrescendo und 3 hemmt dasselbe.
Zu beobachten ist hierbei, daß, wenn 4 wirken soll, ein Druck auf 6, und wenn 5 wirken soll, ein Druck auf 3 vorausgegangen sein muß. [d.h. vor dem Beginn des Decrescendos muß das Crescendo gestoppt sein, und vor Beginn des Crescendos muß das Decrescendo gestoppt sein]
Ein Nichtbeachten oder falsches Behandeln hat keine anderen Folgen als ein Versagen der Wirkung; überhaupt machen die hier angebrachten bisher ungewöhnlichen Einrichtungen den eigentlichen Orgel-Mechanismus keineswegs complicirter, sondern sind etwas für sich Bestehendes.
This comes from Ladegast's own set of registration instructions for the organ in Reval. The full text can be found here:
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If you order from the shop in the Hague you'll save 1p.
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Hallo all,
those who follow the European scene and have not already heard the news, the great organologist and consultant Cor Edskes died on, I think, Monday. A loss to all concerned with the North German / Dutch historical tradition.
Best to all from over here.
Barry
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Well, Magdeburg's tuba IS an English one, having been supplied by our gracious hosts. But the voicing of the rest of the organ is modelled on that of Friedrich Ladegast, so possibly not what is generally considered as "German". It works splendidly.
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Hi Charly
Ours are also wooden and pretty big scaled. We screwed wooden blocks to the sides of the resonators and made a simple but strong lever which fits under them. I can in fact lift the resonators alone, but it is better to have a second person to guide the pipe when you have raised it. One of the problems is that the fit in the block tends to get very tight because of the weight of the resonators, and loosening the block with a hammer in one hand and holding the pipe in the airwith the other is pretty strenuous.
Dirt in the pipes does tend to collect in the shallots rather than in the boots, so getting into the boot without being able to remove the tongue is not mostly much use. If the shallots are leathered, the dirt also tends to get hammered into the leather and pipe can go dumb.
Cheers and best wishes
Barry
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Consider this without cynicism. If Cameron Carpenter is so bad why have the BBC invited him to take part in the countries most prestigious music festival?
Because even the BBC needs bums on seats. They can be sure that most of the 10000 people sitting there will not be lovers of organ music but people who like rock-stars. So they will love it.
Great musicianship is about music. Great performanceship is about the performer. Those who love music should be given a health warning.
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Well, reusing the old case was a condition.
Train times are easy. There are very few of them..
B
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I think not. This is the old organ, in its last incarnation, I think, judging by the fact that at least in the Widor a swell box is very much in evidence.
B
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I'm afraid not; it has been claimed that something is to appear on the Nomine page, but it hasn't, yet.
You can hear some doodling on something like full organ here: http://www.ndr.de/regional/niedersachsen/emsland/orgel205.html
Best
Barry
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Dear Board-members
I posted the following on piporg-l and apologise to anyone who feels annoyed by getting it twice......
Best wishes
Barry
Yesterday I attended the inauguration of a new instrument so interesting, that I feel I ought to make the effort to share some impressions.
The little town of Bardowick, a few kilometers north of Lüneburg, now seems so sleepy and suburban that it is difficult to imagine that 1000 years it was much more important than either Lüneburg or Hamburg. It is dominated by an extremely large church, known as the "Dom" (cathedral), which was probably intended by Charlemagne, who founded the place, to be a bishopric, but never was. An eventful history, including destruction by the Prince of Brunswick "Henry the Lion", means that the current building mostly dates from the 14th century. You can see it here:
http://www.kirche-bardowick.de/unserekirchen/derdom.html
The church has had a number of organs in the course of its history (Jacob Scherer is one illustrious name) but in 1867 Philipp Fürtwängler built a new 31 stop instrument on a newly designed gallery at the west end. Three attempts were made to adapt this instrument to changing tastes; the third of these, in 1997, gave the instrument a new mechanical action and attempted a complete rebuild with some old material. But the result was a disaster, the instrument was abandoned after less than 5 years, and the name of the responsible builder is now tactfully never mentioned.
Since the case was still in existence and under protection, the problem was to decide what sort of an instrument should go into it. It was felt that, since the region is still very rich in German romantic instruments, of which about two thirds are by Furtwängler, a reconstruction in this style was pointless; on the other hand, it was clear that the case was totally unsuitable for a north German-style romantic instrument. Harald Vogel was largely responsible for pointing the project in the direction of Thuringia, where baroque instruments (those which did not reuse old cases) abandoned the separate cases of the "Werkprinzip"-style instrument and reveal themselves as transitional, opening clearly the way towards a romantic style in construction and in tonal design. The Schuke firm, that is this one:
www.schuke.de
and NOT this one: http://www.schuke-berlin.de/
had restored the fabulous Eilert Köhler organ in Suhl (Thuringia) a few years ago and were chosen partly for that reason to undertake this project. The specification, as well as some interesting pictures, can be found here:
http://www.nomine.net/bardowick-dom
The pallette of beautiful sounds that this organ can make seems almost inexhaustible. The typical gentle strings and enchanting flutes of the Thuringian builders like Köhler and Trost are all present; one could listen to the combination of the Hohlfloit and Fagar of the Oberwerk for most of the night, whereas the Gamba of the Hauptwerk together with the Gemshorn is just as enchanting. The "Flute douce" 4' of the Oberwerk, a 2 rank stop, one rank a slightly conical wooden open flute and the other a wooden Gedackt - well, there is no way to describe it. The three weighty plena are all different in character, but all three are brilliant and incisive but not loud.
With this instrument Matthias Schuke and his crew have, I think, proved beyond doubt (even more than they did in "my" instrument), that they are capable of far more than solid, functional bread-and-butter organs, but are a force to be reckoned with. This instrument is no copy, but a new and innovative instrument in a styl which is underrepresented in modern organ building.
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Bossi's organ concerto is a real winner. How I wish Halls and Organists would be less Poulenc orientated - inspiring and fun as that it is.
Perhaps it is the Radio 3 and Classic FM syndrome dictating taste (again).
N
Ah, but the Bossi needs horns - of which at least 2 need to be pretty good - and the Poulenc doesn't. And, actually, it also needs more rehearsal time!
B
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I for one find nothing wrong with the D major, except for the tuning of course. You may argue that the piece has virtuosity written all over it, and play it accordingly.
Best
Friedrich
I don't mind the tempo, as such, although it does seem to me to minimize the already pretty minimal depth of quite a bit of the piece. But the lurches in tempo are not exactly organic, are they?
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While looking for something else, I stumbled on this page
http://imslp.org/wiki/Prelude_and_Fugue_in...nn_Sebastian%29
complete with a link to an mp3 of Edwin Lemare playing the piece on a Welte roll. (I love th comment that, owing to the weather, the organ is "a lttle out of tune".) The recording was apparently made last year on the Welte organ in Essen.
What does this tell us, apart from that even EH Lemare couldn't always keep a strict tempo? I found it quite fascinating, in a fairly horrible way, I must admit.
Best to all
Barry
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You've obviously got a point here. When I was Googling for some info regarding the new organ for Monaco Cathedral, I found a couple of texts, which all seemed to be based on some sort of press release from the beginning of March 2011. One of the sentences there was: "L'instrument disposera de 74 jeux et a été confectionné avec près de 7.000 tuyaux, dont la plupart sont issus de l'ancien orgue de la Cathédrale de Monaco." Since my French is very basic level, I concluded that the new organ must have some 7000 pipes, without actually considering that this is virtually impossible. As Sprondel calculated, there would be less than 5000 pipes altogether. Or does someone have any other information (calculation)?
M
My French is probably worse than yours, but that does indeed seem to be what it says. On a neo-baroque organ with dozens of many-ranked mixtures, it would be far from implausible, but here?
On the other hand, often even the organ builders have no idea how many pipes are really in the organ. They just make them one at a time, and then have to go and count them.
B
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The organ with 74 stops has nearly 7000 pipes (2/3 of which are still from the old Merklin instrument), is 12 m high and weighs 20 tons (with the supporting metal structure alone weighing 7 tons). Organ blessing/dedication is to take place on December 8 2011, whereas the official opening is planned for spring 2012.
That is a lot of pipes for 74 stops, if you work it out. We have 92 stops and about 5 1/2 thousand pipes. Why?
B
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The post-war organ in the church of St. Nikolai in Kiel, where I was assistant for a while, put up from a Laukhuff kit and finally finished in 1964, was dismantled one day after its dedication.
Beat that.
Best
Barry
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Surely horse manure is better? Fortunately it isn't delivered in the same way as volcanic ash.
If it were, I'm sure that would stop flights pretty thoroughly too.
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I was also supposed to be on that tour (also a friend here in Chester). Flight cancelled but fortunately a full refund promised on that. I feel sorry for someone from Australia who was coming - got as far as Singapore and had to go home again. Johan tells me he hopes to reorganise it for us later this year or early next.
This one just in:
"Waiter, there's volcanic ash in my soup!"
"Yes, I'm so terribly sorry madam, this is a no-fly area."
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If so, to what extent and to what purpose?
It seems to me that these are actually the performances which are truly "valid" - if the performer can bring them off. Liszt's many reworkings of his own pieces seem to bear this out.
What has always fascinated me, is the link between the German virtuosic style of the early 20th century, and what happened in America, where the style seemed to find a willing and receptive school of similar thought; Virgil Fox being the best known of those who bent the notes to make very individual musical points.MM
I believe that Wilhelm Middelschulte bears the responsibility for this - he was Fox's teacher for 4 years.
B
Some new history
in General discussion
Posted
They are not linked, Dave. How strange that they produced anything at all.... I must check that.